ELMONT, N.Y. — The puck simply laid there for Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Trailing 2-1 late in the second period, Kyle Palmieri tied up Robert Thomas in the face-off circle and kicked it to his left, where Anders Lee sent it back to the point for defenseman Sebastian Aho, who toed the blue line and sent a shot toward Joel Hofer’s goal.
The puck hit Palmieri, who had parked his way toward the front of the St. Louis Blues’ net, and redirected conveniently into the path of Pageau as he made his way to the left post. One sweep of his stick and the game was tied.
Pageau curled up the left boards and with an emphatic overhand fist pump, seemed to let out the majority of feelings — perhaps even unease — that had been bubbling up in recent days.
“It was a big goal for us,” Pageau said. “Everything else that’s going on around there or in the media, it’s out of my control. I try to help the team the best I can.”
His eighth goal of the year was amongst his biggest yet in 2023-24. It tied the game and sent the Islanders buzzing toward a fourth consecutive victory to help further bolster their playoff push.
Entering Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks, they were just four points out of a playoff spot behind the Philadelphia Flyers with two games in hand.
Pageau’s standing with the organization had fallen under some question, though, with the NHL’s trade deadline approaching on Friday at 3 p.m. ET. His name has often been brought up in speculation and rumor mills alike as a prime trade candidate if the Islanders ever decided to dismantle a portion of their foundation. The 31-year-old is due $5 million annually through the 2025-26 season, which would open up some cap space for a cash-strapped Lou Lamoriello.
“I’m sure my name is up there,” Pageau told amNewYork on Monday. “It’s there every year. I try not to focus on that right now. I’m proud to be an Islander and we’re trying to win games here, so that’s our focus right now.”
Lamoriello, though, had never done anything to suggest that the former Ottawa Senator would find his way out of town. Of course, that’s his M.O. to keep his cards close to the vest.
Regardless, there was some understandable relief when the Hall-of-Fame executive said that he was “absolutely not subtracting from his ranks at the deadline, especially because the Islanders quickly regrouped their playoff hopes.
“It means a lot when you’re in this locker room and there’s a lot of confidence coming from your organization and the players,” Pageau said. “We want to keep winning hockey games. That’s our focus. That’s our goal right now… I think showing that confidence goes a long way here in this locker room.”
There’s also sudden confidence in head coach Patrick Roy’s new lines, which has featured Pageau becoming an integral part of a suddenly high-powered second unit alongside Lee and Palmieri.
After going without a point for seven games, Pageau had a goal and two assists in his previous two games entering Thursday night. Both of those helpers came during the Islanders’ 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins, which featured a first-period natural hat trick by Palmieri as a part of a four-point night while Lee added a goal and an assist.
With Pageau centering the trio, New York’s second line has been one of its best combinations this season.
In 45.5 minutes together, Pageau, Lee, and Palmieri have an expected-goals-per-60-minute mark of 5.54. Their expected goals against per 60 is at 1.32, marking a team-best 80.8% advantage, per Moneypuck.
“He’s a smart hockey player. That’s what I tell him,” Roy said of Pageau. “I’m not going to compare him to the person I’m going to mention in a second, and that is [Boston Bruins legend] Patrice Bergeron, but I think he could play a role like this without being him. He plays smart, he plays power play, he plays PK, he’s very good defensively.”
Roy’s line shuffling has also provided a change of pace for Pageau, who under Barry Trotz and Lane Lambert was often tasked in being a centerman for younger wingers trying to find their footing in the NHL. Just this year alone he spent considerable time with Simon Holmstrom and Oliver Wahlstrom.
“It’s a bit different approach,” Pageau said on working with Lee and Palmieri. “The communication is just very easy to know where we’re going to be on one shift. If you’re not in the spot they were thinking, they’re telling you right away. That honesty goes a long way.
“They’re definitely two hard workers who have been around for a while and compete every day. They make it easy for me in the middle.”
